All American?

CONSERVATIVES have a ready explanation for the disappointing election: it’s the Republicans’ fault. The Republican Party could hardly have run a more issueless campaign, and even those Republicans who had some issues and stuck to them seemed hard-pressed to say why. The diagnosis, in other words, is that once again the Republicans weren’t conservative enough. But this is an argument that proves too much. In American history, intellectual and social movements have usually become effective precisely when they have given rise to or taken over a political party, and the GOP has been dominated by conservatives since 1964- Why, after more than three decades, have conservatives not built a better Republican party?

Mr. Kesler is a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College. This is adapted from his Summer 1998 Bradley Lecture at the American Enterprise Institute.

About the Author

Charles R. Kesler

Charles R. Kesler, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College, is the editor of the Claremont Review of Books.

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CONSERVATIVES have a ready explanation for the disappointing election: it’s the Republicans’ fault. The Republican Party could hardly have run a more issueless campaign, and even those Republicans who had some issues and stuck to them seemed hard-pressed to say why. The diagnosis, in other words, is that once again the Republicans weren’t conservative enough. But this is an argument that proves too much. In American history, intellectual and social movements have usually become effective precisely when they have given rise to or taken over a political party, and the GOP has been dominated by conservatives since 1964- Why, after more than three decades, have conservatives not built a better Republican party?

Mr. Kesler is a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College. This is adapted from his Summer 1998 Bradley Lecture at the American Enterprise Institute.